Longitudinal interactions between brain and cognitive measures on reading development from 6 months to 14 years

Area of Science:

• Neurobiology
• Developmental Psychology
• Cognitive Neuroscience

Background:

• Dyslexia is a neurobiological reading disorder.
• Early infant brain responses are linked to later reading skills, but predictive power into adolescence is unknown.
• Previous studies show associations from infancy to early school years.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the predictive power of infant brain responses to speech for reading speed until adolescence in children at genetic risk for dyslexia.
• To determine if infant brain activation predicts reading speed beyond established preschool cognitive measures.
• To explore the mediating role of rapid automatized naming in the association between infant brain responses and reading speed.

Main Methods:

• Utilized electroencephalography (EEG) to measure brain activation to pseudowords in at-risk infants.
• Assessed neurocognitive skills including letter naming, phonology, and verbal short-term memory in preschool.
• Measured reading speed at 14 years of age.
• Employed statistical analyses to assess predictive power and mediation.

Main Results:

• Infant left-hemisphere brain activation to pseudowords predicted 44% of reading speed at 14 years.
• This prediction improved when including preschool neurocognitive measures.
• Preschool rapid automatized naming ability mediated the relationship between infant brain responses and adolescent reading speed.

Conclusions:

• Early infant brain responses to speech sounds are significant predictors of long-term reading speed in at-risk individuals.
• Rapid naming and reading speed may rely on shared cognitive processes involving phonological access.
• Infant brain activation may serve as an early indicator of developmental trajectories in these processes.